I forgot his name, but I’ll refer to him as pool guy. We needed our pool fixed/cleaned and so he came that morning. I returned that evening from my walk/jog and figured Pool guy was gone for the day because his truck was gone. I pulled into the driveway and the sermon on the radio was really good so I sat and my car and continued to listen. The pastor was talking about mourning our own sinfulness, and allowing God space to work in the darkness in our hearts. I had become very aware of the darkness in my heart the past few months. The pastor also talked about how no heart was too broken for God. Something I needed to become aware of. Right about when the sermon ended, the pool guy pulled into the alley. I turned my car off, got out and asked if I needed to move my car.

“Ohnoyou’regood, whatsyournameagain?” He talked so quickly.

“Marlie,” I responded. He went on and on about the hawks flying around. When he wasn’t talking about hawks, he was talking about pools: our pool, fixing pools. I’d never seen someone speak with such passion about pools.

“Man, I just love the transformation the pool goes through. Like, it’s broken and messy when I first show up and then seeing the finished product when I leave. It’s just awesome.”

“Hopefully our pool hasn’t been too much trouble, it’s been out of business for years.”

“Oh no, no no no. Oh no. No pool is too broken for fixing.” He continued talking about the rest of the process of how he was going to fix our pool.

“It needs an acid cleaning, to get the algae out. And I gotta spray wash it. And there’s that crack on the step, which I’ll fix.” He was acting out each step, with sound effects. This guy loved pools. After a few stories from him about how he rescued some giant catfish from a flooded pool, I said “hey have a good night.”

“Okie dokie. you too.” And I chuckled.

I didn’t think about pool guy, or pools, or the sermon until I was sitting at the kitchen table eating some food the next day. Everything hit me in waves.

The sermon: “No heart is too broken to be fixed”, echoed by pool guy: “no pool is too broken to be fixed.” Watching pool guy work almost made me weep because I realized that this whole time I’ve been a Christian, God has been at work in my broken, messed up, ratchet heart: acid cleaning, fixing the cracks, pressure washing. Sometimes I kick God out. No, not there God, too messy. Let me clean that up first. I tell him. That’s as silly as locking pool guy out because the pool is messy and broken. “well of course it is, that’s why you called me, right?” Pool guy would respond. Also, the passion pool guy had for cleaning pools and that transformation, was nearly contagious. And if this regular, human being can find such joy in the transformation of a cement hole that holds water. How much more does God delight in transforming our hearts? We just have to open the gate and let Him in.

The night before pool guy came I spent some time reading the bible. A day later as I ate my lunch, tears already streaming down my face, I remembered the verse I had read that night

When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor–sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” Mark 2:17